A team of researchers of Cortexyme has stated in a research that they have found the cause and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

This research was published in the Science Advances Journal on January 23rd, 2019.

Cortexyme is the privately held pharmaceutical company in South San Francisco, USA. The company is involved in finding the causes to change the course of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other progressive disorders.

In a study, the researchers have explained the role of a common bacterium and Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) in causing Alzheimer’s disease. It also laid down how the small molecule inhibitors blocked these bacteria.

The researchers have identified that Porphyromonas gingivalis is the key virus in causing this chronic disease in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.

Stephen Dominy, M.D., lead author on the study, Cortexyme co-founder and a chief scientific officer said, “Infectious agents have been implicated in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease before, but the evidence of causation hasn’t been convincing.”

Dominy further added, “Now, for the first time, we have solid evidence connecting the intracellular, Gram-negative pathogen, Pg, and Alzheimer’s pathogenesis.”

Casey Lynch, Cortexyme’s co-founder, an author on the Science Advances paper and a chief executive officer said, “Despite significant funding and the best efforts of academic, industry, and advocacy communities, clinical progress against Alzheimer’s has been frustratingly slow.”

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is known to be the sixth major cause of death in the United States. In India, more than 4 million (40 lakh) people are affected by this disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is found to be the major cause of dementia among older people. Dementia affects mental functions and behavior such as thinking, reasoning or remembering. The issues in the brain are the initial signs of mental impairments because of this disease.

The study was carried out on the mouse model. The oral Porphyromonas gingivalis infection in mouse increased the production of amyloid beta (Aβ). Amyloid beta is a major component of the amyloid plaques which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

During this research, the team detected an organism’s toxic proteases or gingipains in the neurons of the Alzheimer’s disease patients. They linked the levels of gingipain with pathology related to two markers - tau and ubiquitin.

Tau is a protein that is essential for normal neuronal functions and ubiquitin is another protein that marks the damaged proteins for degradation.

The researchers are seeking to stop the Pg-driven disease. They have designed a series of a small molecule to treat the disease. They have demonstrated that hindrance by COR388 can reduce the bacterias of the Pg brain infection.

COR388 is the promising composite that can block the production of Aβ42 as well as neuroinflammation. COR388 also safeguards neurons in the hippocampus of our brain. It is that part of the brain that moderate our memory, learnings and emotions.

In the year 2018, Cortexyme researchers announced incredible results from its Phase 1 clinical trial of COR388 at the 11th Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease Conference.

It was reported that the COR388 compound was safe and it can be consumed by Alzheimer’s patients. Its doses can be given for up to 28 days.

Also, COR388 gave positive results when it went through several cognitive tests in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.